LEWISTON, Maine — Despite repeated warnings in the weeks and months leading up to the Lewiston mass shooting, sheriff's deputies never made contact with the man who committed the worst mass killing in state history.
Sagadahoc County Sheriff Joel Merry confirmed Tuesday his deputies twice visited the home of the shooter, Robert Card. They knocked on the door, and on one visit, Card's vehicle was outside and a deputy thought he "might have heard someone" inside, but when nobody opened up, they left without making face-to-face contact.
Those visits happened in September. A month later, the shooter killed 18 people in Lewiston and injured 13 others.
The Sagadahoc Sheriff's Department was first warned about Card in May, when his family told the sheriff's office they worried Card was paranoid and hearing voices. A sheriff's department report urged deputies to "use caution" and warned that Card had "10-15 firearms in house and/or truck."
In September, another report obtained by NEWS CENTER Maine reveals that the Army Reserve asked the sheriff's office to check on Card after he had "psychotic episodes" and made "threats to shoot up" a Saco military facility.
An Army Reserve officer asked deputies to "conduct a well-being Check on Card ... to gauge his mental health and determine if he is a threat to himself and/or others," according to the report.
But according to the sheriff, deputies stopped their efforts to locate Card without ever making direct contact with him after an Army Reserve commander informed deputies that Card "no longer had any weapons from the reserve unit" and Card's brother told deputies "he would work to secure any firearms that Mr. Card had access to."
We asked Sheriff Merry if it was appropriate for law enforcement to rely on those assurances instead of verifying them for themselves.
"Every one of these is different and you try to treat them all independently and you try to look at each and every case as it presents itself," Merry said. "Hindsight is a great thing if we have that. We never have the ability to look into the future and see what was going to happen. I can tell you that we've responded to many many, calls similar to this and they haven't turned into what this turned into."
NEWS CENTER Maine also asked the sheriff why—if Card wouldn't answer his door in September—deputies didn't watch Card's home from outside and make contact once he came out.
"I'm not going to say that's a bad question," Merry said. "I think we can always look at that. What could we have done different? What could we learn from that?"
Sheriff Merry said in a statement Monday night he believes his "agency acted appropriately and followed procedures for conducting an attempt to locate and wellness check."
Though he added in Tuesday's interview that "we need to review how we respond to these and we will."
He said he anticipates department policy will be changed, but would not yet say what specific changes he expects.
The sheriff said in a statement his heart breaks for the victims and their loved ones.